REVIEWS AND EXCHANGES 
71 
They will find that various stones which they thought had characteristic colours 
may appear dressed in quite a different hue. Many may have heard of a blue 
diamond, but red and green ones ate also known. The sapphire may be yellow 
and the emerald may be sage-green, yellow, white, or rose-pink, though many 
of its varieties are known under the name of the beryl or atjuamarine. We are 
initiated into the mysteries of nomenclature, and find that certain names convey 
very little. The oriental topaz is really a sapphire, and the ordinary topaz, which 
may be distinguished as the Brazilian topaz, may be pink, blue, white, or yellow, 
and is a silicate of alumina of considerable value ; while lastly, there is the Scotch 
Cairngorm topaz, which is only coloured quartz. There is a chapter on the 
identincation of precious stones, and each of them comes in for individual atten- 
tion (see Figure 26), while the main facts with regard to mining and cutting are 
carefully described and fully illustrated. Altogether, Mr. Claremont is to be 
congratulated on giving us at the same time a valuable addition to general and to 
special literature. 
Birds of the Countryside. A Handbook of Familiar British Birds. By Frank 
Finn. 4J inches x 6A inches. 190 pages. 12 Coloured Plates and numerous 
other Illustrations. Hutchinson. Price 5s. net. 
Authors seem never to be tired of wiiling nor publishers of producing books 
and booklets on birds. Let us hope that for their sake the public also does not 
weary of buying them. Mr. Finn’s book, with its rounded corners, is convenient 
to carry in the pocket, and the brief descriptions of various British birds, arranged 
in the order of places in which they are like'y to be seen, should prove of con- 
siderable use to those who are anxious to identify our feathered bipeds. There 
are many illustrations and most of them are very attractive. The coloured 
figures are, however, rather suggestive of their source (they appeared in the 
columns of Cage Birds'). 
The Commoner Wild Birds o) Great Britain. , By David T. Piice. 4J inches x 
6A inches. 62 pages. Gurney and Jackson. Price is. net. 
This is a still smaller handbook, and it is not illustrated, except by one figure, 
which gives the names of the external parts of a bird. The work is intended 
principally for teachers and students who w'ant to gain a practical insight into an 
interesting branch of Nature Study. Everything seems to be done to make the 
work of determination easy. We have, first of all, birds of the garden, classi- 
fied as follows: Those which are larger, of the same size, or smaller than a 
Thrush or a Sparrow respectively. They are arranged in two columns, one of 
which refers to birds to be seen in summer, and the other to those which appear 
in winter. Six other habitats are similarly considered, and the rest of the book is 
occupied by very short descriptions of the birds, with important points printed in 
italic type. 
One Hundred Photographs of Bird Life. By R. B. Lodge. 4J inches x 
inches. 95 pages. Bousfield and Co. Price is. 
One Hundred Photogtaphs of some Smaller British Mammals. Photographed 
from Life and described by Douglas English. 4J inches x yi inches. 
Bousfield and Co. Price is. 
Some of Mr. Lodge’s very best photographs are included in this little volume 
(see Figures 29 and 30). W’e may mention the Kingfisher, Spoon-bill and the 
Glossy Ibis. A number of interesting notes have been added by, Mr. Lodge. 
In the similar handbook by Mr. English we have a selection of his pictures 
of mammals, and the notes with regard to them (seeing that they are very much 
fewer in number than the birds considered in the other book) are carried into 
greater detail, with very happy results. Some of the titles to Mr. Douglas 
English’s figures are rather curious, such as “ Flattened to Enter the Trap,” and 
“ X-ray of the Harvest Mouse’s Tail.” Some of the pictures lack detail as 
regards the hair, and this fault is particularly noticeable in the reproductions of 
the photographs of an albino meadow mouse : it must be remembered, however, 
that the making of a picture of a white object is always supposed to be a test of 
a photographer’s skill. Generally speaking, however, this account of our small 
mammals, which does not endow them with human characteristics, feelings and 
emotions as Mr. English has hitherto done, will be found most acceptable. 
